My long weekend at the Calvert Trust has really given me a lot to think about. On a daily basis I face challenges and sometimes when faced with challenges its easy to give up. But last week at the Calvert Trust I got to try life in a wheelchair and it made me realise that when faced with certain things you simply have no choice but carry on. If we applied that philosophy to everything we face in life, imagine what we COULD achieve…..

Do you tackle it for a little while until it gets really difficult and give up? Or

Do you never give in?

I know I could answer yes to all of these at some stages of my life. So why give up sometimes and not others? The answer is about how badly you want to succeed and if you want to succeed in everything you do, then you have to make yourself want that success.

I find it helps if I grab my notepad and write a list of everything that achieving success will bring me. Depending on what the criteria is, it could be anything from satisfaction of ticking off my to do list right through to earning enough money to take a dream holiday.

Add another column of all the things failure will bring one, and sure enough my first list looks a whole lot better.

I know one thing though, learning to use a wheel chair has really helped me get a better perspective and next time I feel like giving up on something, I’ll think again and question, has life really become that hard?

What would make the difference to you facing your challenges?

If you’re facing life’s challenges, coaching can give you the time and space you need to find solutions. If you want to know if this could help YOU, give Carolyna call today on 07714 216388 for your free consultation to see what you could achieve.

Someone once said to me, that although you can walk with someone on their journey, you can never truly understand what someone else is thinking or feeling because unless you are them, you are not actually wearing their shoes.

I have taken this quite to heart over the last few years and always carry the thought with me when I am coaching, it’s very easy to think that we know what others are feeling. However it is only when we create some detachment from our emotions to their situation that we can truly help them by giving them time and space to resolve their own issues.

I have just got back from an amazing weekend of personal development at the Calvert Trust in Cumbria. The Calvert Trust are set up to support and encourage people with disabilities to tackle outdoor activities. I tried lots of activities I wouldn’t normally consider such as ghyll scrambling and kayaking, despite being physically able to do them. Most importantly I spent half a day in a wheel chair. It was great fun, wheeling around the Calvert Trust after all they are set up for wheel chair users, with lifts wherever you need one and ramps.

Of course, I knew that at any point I could get out of my chair and walk if I couldn’t get where I needed to be and what’s more when I get home to my house with its narrow front door and porch step, or need to nip down the road to the shop that is on a 15% hill, things wouldn’t be quite so easy.

Yes, I believe its given me a greater insight into the difficulties a wheelchair user might experience. Do I fully understand what it feel like? How could I?

So next time that you have to deal with someone in distress do ask yourself if you fully understand what they’re going through. The likelihood is that whilst you do have empathy you don’t know for sure.

If you’re facing life’s challenges, coaching can give you the time and space you need to find solutions. If you want to know if this could help YOU, give Carolyna call today on 07714 216388 for your free consultation to see what you could achieve.

Motivation is a really big discussion point for me. I present so often around goals, visions and confidence – yet rarely about motivation itself. Yet it impacts on not only these 3 things but also on almost everything we do in life, from getting up in the morning to climbing mountains.

Motivation! Were we born with it? I imagine there’s a whole psychological debate on that one. I believe we were, what else made us try to crawl, walk and talk. Everything we do has a driver behind it and that driver is motivation.

But if it comes so naturally to us, why do we lose motivation? I don’t believe we ever lose motivation, I believe we just lose the driver for it. Imagine wanting to lose weight. We go on a diet. Somewhere along the way we lose sight of the end goal. The reason we wanted to lose weight whether that was to look good or feel healthier. The motivation was still there but without the need, the desire to continue, motivation doesn’t have a need to kick in.

So next time you feel your motivation is beginning to flag, or you begin to lose sight of why you’re striving for something, take a small step away from the situation and revisit your goals. It works every time.

Lost motivation can really get in the way of what you want to achieve, so if you feel your motivation is preventing you from getting where YOU want to be, give Carolyna call today on 07714 216388 for your free consultation to see what coaching could help you achieve.

I take quite a simple definition, its about anything that you want to change in your work, home or personal life.

It can be about:

How you react in different situations

Controlling your stress levels

Your work/life balance

Achieving your dreams

Work aspirations

Dealing with other people

How you perform a task

I could go on, although I expect you have the general idea.

Self development can take as little as 10 minutes a day. In reality, we forget in our busy lives to set aside this time for ourselves. We place a low priority on what we do for ourselves compared to helping and supporting other people.

So if you’re to make just one small change this week, allow yourself just ten minutes a day to think about what you’d like to change in your life and how you’re going to do it.

If you’re not sure where to start with your own personal development, ring Carolyn today on 07714 216388 to book your free consultation.

Its an odd question isn’t it? My job is to support individuals with their personal development. Personal development is all about stretching yourself, but what exactly is a stretch?

Well a stretch is anything that you wouldn’t normally do. If you are a regular reader, you’ll have read in November last year I took a huge comfort zone stretch into performing stand up comedy. This has helped me immensely when I stand and present any talk or speech to a group audience. Stretches can also be about skills and tasks.

I’ve taken on a challenge for the next month to take part in a 30 day writing romp. I stumbled across it on Facebook. I write regularly for this blog, yet rarely give any time to improve my skills. My core drivers for the blog are to:

write from the heart

Share my knowledge and experiences for others self development

So I have pledged that I will dedicate 20 minutes a day to working towards creating my first ebook and improving my writing skills.

Pledging as part of a group on Facebook has made me accountable to others for my goal, for me this is critical to support my personal motivation.

What skill set would you like to improve?

Part of my role as a personal development coach is to support individuals in theiir own self development. If you need support in this area, then please give me a call today on 07714 216388 to book your free consultation.

None of us like toothache, but a visit to the dentist will result in a filling or worse still. The truth is, no matter what we do, the problem tooth isn’t going to mend itself.

So much of what we do today in our personal lives and in business is about glossing over a problem, fixing the symptom and not the cause.

Many of my clients approach me because they are struggling to lose weight, yet it is only when we start to scratch beneath the surface that the reality of the problem becomes apparent.

Reaching for food can fill a gap, caused by a plethora of realities. Do we eat because we’ve had a bad day, what caused the bad day? Have we reached for that snack because we’ve taken something that someone has said badly?

So before you reach for that bar of chocolate or hunk of cheese, ask yourself do you really want or need it? And if the answer is no, then what is causing the stress that you’re trying to ignore.

I am frequently approached by people who turn to food rather than tackle the underlying problem. If you see yourself doing this then give me a call today on 07714 216388 to how we can tackle the cause together

I’ve just had a lovely slightly longer than average weekend. A really good friend came to stay, a friend who I probably see 3 or 4 times a year.

I’m sharing this with you because, having my friend in the house meant that both myself and my hubby who also runs his own business, switched off our computers, and put down our tablets for 3 whole days. I don’t know when this last happened other than over Christmas. Even when we go on holiday we take a tablet each and seek out the wifi. Its almost as though facebook would fail without us, let alone our businesses.

I don’t know if it’s the fear that if we don’t get back to someone straight away that a business lead will simply go cold, or our absence from social media means that we lose our presence. Either way those thoughts are unfounded.

The weekend is now over and there are no lost clients, just a bigger than average inbox to go through. We have however had a lovely relaxed weekend that simply wouldn’t have been achieved had our guest not have stayed. I even managed to try my hand at making crumpets, something I’ve been meaning to do for a while.

So the moral of this story? Just once in a while, either with friends or on your own – switch off your social media – its one sure fire way of getting some balance back in your life.

If from time to time you find balancing home and work difficult, using a coach to help you make personal boundaries can make a huge difference. Give Carolyn a call on 07714 216388 today to make an appointment for your first free consultation – what do you have to lose?

As a coach, I’m often asked why, if my client always has the answer, do they need a coach? This is where I always use my favourite metaphor:

When a client gets stuck around their particular challenge, and it doesn’t matter if they want to lose weight, gain confidence or change jobs, they get stuck for the same reason. They encounter a blockage. That blockage stems from their fight or flight response, their brain won’t allow them to think deeper and solve the issue because the answer may scare them.

A coach, will continue to question beyond the point where a client will naturally stop when challenging themselves. A coach won’t accept “because I can’t” or “I don’t know” as an answer?

Let me explain:

You’re traveling on your normal daily journey to work. Someone builds a brick wall across your route. You have 2 choices, stop or turn back neither choice will get you to where you want to go. Giving up can be the easiest option.

If I were then to say to you, “what else could you do?” you naturally think a little harder, a little deeper and that can be enough to allow yourself to think of other options, getting a ladder or a sledge hammer. 2 solutions that we didn’t have before.

If you’d like to know more about how coaching could help you resolve your personal challenges, drop Carolyn an email today on caro@reflectionscoaching.co.uk.

Survival plans? Hmmm. I’m not talking about what happens if a fire breaks out and you need to exit the building. I’m talking about those very core things that get you through your week.

Survival planning in an exercise I’ve done with a number of groups. They’re often the very rewards we give our self. They can be huge, although sometimes even the littlest of things can help us survive our day.

Your survival plan should apply whether you’re self employed, working or coping with a family. They’re there to reward you for all the great things you’ve done today or this week. Here’s some ideas to get you started:

Buying yourself a treat when you do the weekly shopping, perhaps a magazine, or chocolate bar.

Having a luxury bath once a week, lock the bathroom door, light some candles and use your favorite bath products.

Go out for a walk with your partner once a week.

Have half an hours me time before bed.

Taking a family holiday once a year

Having one weekend a month with no work!

Remember though once they’re in your plan they’re there to stick to. I’m an advocate of sticking to the plan!!

So what’s in your survival plan, would love to hear your ideas, please share them by commenting below.

In this busy world, many of my clients need help making time for themselves. If you need a little ‘me time‘ back in your life, then give me call today on 07714 216388 to take advantage of your free consultation.

We all had so many good intentions at the beginning of January, for most of us now, we’ll be finding some of those goals a bit of a challenge, especially those of us with weight loss, or ‘giving up’ type of goals. Even those of us with achievement goals, i.e. ‘I want to start a business’ may have found obstacles in the way.

So what is your biggest obstacle?

Have you ever considered the answer to that question could well be “Me”. The one thing stopping you achieving your goals could actually be you. Psychologically we do this all of the time. Those voices in your head that say “I can’t because……”, and it may be about money, or time, or family life. The truth is these are just excuses you have made up for yourself. If you truly wanted to achieve something you could, if you stepped out of the way.

SO push aside those negative thoughts and instead of thinking why you CAN’T do something. Think about all the reasons why you CAN.

If there’s something you want to achieve and your thoughts of CAN’T are taking over, give Carolyn a call today on 07714 216388 and book your free consultation. Together we’ll get you thinking CAN.

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About Carolyn

Leaving behind me over 22 years in the financial services industry, I am starting my new journey as a Life Coach specialising in Mind, Body and Spirit.
Qualified Life Coach specialising in Personal Development, Well-being & Weight Management, Career, Change & Redundancy coaching, Networking, and Credibility Coaching.
Reflections Coaching has a proven record of success for personal and corporate clients dating back to 2001.
Speed Coaching, Face to Face, Online and Telephone Coaching to suit you.
Having personally experienced the power of coaching, it has changed the way I live my life and pursue my career, opening up choices and giving me the confidence to live and realise my dreams of self employment. Using my experiences I am well placed to help people deal with change, both in their personal life or with their career.
On a personal note, I live for the hills and the outdoors, and enjoy sessions at the gym, particularly Body Pump and Pilates. Equally, I am just as happy at home with friends or family, good home cooked food, a glass of wine and lots of chocolate. Life is of course a fine balancing act.
A coaching relationship is a fantastic and uplifting experience, so whatever it is in life you wish for, bring Reflections Coaching on board and together we will find a way. If you want to know more, please take your time and browse http://www.reflectionscoaching.co.uk/index.html or
contact Caro on 07714 216388 or email carolyntrafford@yahoo.co.uk